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West Lothian Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Sept. 24, 2019.

Climate pledges

We couldn’t find any climate pledges from this council. If you’ve found one, let us know!

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Climate Change Strategy 2021-2028

Climate Strategy · PDF · Approved · Council Only

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West Lothian Council Climate Strategy

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West Lothian Council Climate Strategy

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Climate Plan Scorecard

This council’s climate plans as of 20th September 2021 were assessed and scored by trained Climate Emergency UK volunteers, as part of the Council Climate Plan Scorecards project.

Show the full Scorecard Read more about the scoring process

SectionWest Lothian CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score43%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
5/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
10/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
4/7
4.1/7
Section 4 Community, engagement and communications
4/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
2/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
1/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
2/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
2/4
2.1/4

Emissions reduction projects

Local authorities in Scotland are required to publish yearly data on their compliance with their climate change duties – including the emissions reduction projects they are undertaking.

See all of West Lothian Council’s projects

24

Projects

11.7 ktCO2 per year

Total annual emissions savings

£5,627,000

Total capital cost

Emissions data

708.5 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.9 tCO2

per person

1.6 ktCO2

per km2

37%

Domestic

29%

Transport

20%

Industry

8%

Commercial

6%

Public Sector

1%

Agriculture

Data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy “subset dataset”, representing carbon dioxide emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to West Lothian Council in terms of emissions profile, deprivation, rural/urban population density, and geographical nearness. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Falkirk Council90%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council87%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
Renfrewshire Council87%No2030June 27, 2019
Midlothian Council86%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council85%Yes2030June 20, 2019
North of Tyne Combined Authority83%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019
Lancaster City Council83%Yes2030Jan. 30, 2019
Fife Council81%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
Chorley Council81%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Darlington Borough Council79%Yes2050July 18, 2019

These councils are the most similar to West Lothian Council in terms of their emissions profile, based on the latest data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Swansea City Council93%No2030June 27, 2019
Ashfield District Council92%NoNo targetNo
Chorley Council91%Yes2030Nov. 19, 2019
Ashford Borough Council90%Yes2030No
Falkirk Council90%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019
North East Combined Authority90%NoNo targetNov. 5, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council89%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Erewash Borough Council88%No2050No
Sunderland City Council88%Yes2030March 27, 2019
Charnwood Borough Council88%Yes2030No
Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Falkirk Council97%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019
City of Edinburgh Council96%Yes2030Feb. 7, 2019
Clackmannanshire Council95%NoNo targetAug. 19, 2021
North Lanarkshire Council95%Yes2030June 20, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council95%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
Midlothian Council94%No2030Dec. 17, 2019
Fife Council92%Yes2045Sept. 26, 2019
East Dunbartonshire Council91%Yes2045No
Glasgow City Council91%Yes2030May 16, 2019
East Renfrewshire Council89%No2040Aug. 13, 2020

These councils are the most similar to West Lothian Council in terms of the proportion of their population living in high deprivation, medium deprivation, and low deprivation neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
East Sussex County Council97%Yes2050Oct. 15, 2019
Derbyshire County Council97%Yes2032No
Kent County Council97%Yes2030May 23, 2019
Amber Valley Borough Council97%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Falkirk Council95%Yes2030Aug. 26, 2019
Bedford Borough Council95%Yes2030March 5, 2019
East Suffolk Council95%No2030July 24, 2019
North Northamptonshire Council95%Yes2030July 28, 2021
Lincolnshire County Council95%Yes2050No
Suffolk County Council94%Yes2030March 21, 2019

These councils are the most similar to West Lothian Council in terms of the proportion of their population living in urban, rural, and highly rural neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Chelmsford City Council98%Yes2030July 16, 2019
Lancashire County Council98%No2030Feb. 28, 2019
Amber Valley Borough Council97%Yes2030July 24, 2019
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council97%Yes2038Jan. 30, 2019
Canterbury City Council96%Yes2030July 18, 2019
South Lanarkshire Council96%NoNo targetSept. 25, 2019
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council96%No2040Sept. 19, 2019
North Lanarkshire Council95%Yes2030June 20, 2019
Hampshire County Council95%No2050June 17, 2019
North of Tyne Combined Authority95%YesNo targetMay 7, 2019

Features

This council’s climate plan has been tagged with the following features:

Powers & Responsibilities

West Lothian Council is a Unitary Authority, with powers over:

Council buildings and staff

Climate actions might include:

  • making council offices more energy efficient
  • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
  • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    Environmental health

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing industrial emissions through air quality enforcement
    • bringing up insulation and energy efficiency standards through enforcement of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and Decent Homes Standard 2000, for cold and damp conditions in private rental and social housing

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Passenger transport

    Climate actions might include:

    • encouraging bus and private hire operators to use low-emission vehicles, through licensing requirements or Clean Air Zones
    • incentivising bus use by improving routes, timetables, and ticket prices through ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ with operators
    • proposing to central government the development of light rail / tram networks that integrate, rather than compete, with other modes of transport in the area

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Planning and building control

    Climate actions might include:

    • imposing reasonable requirements that new developments comply with energy efficiency standards and get a proportion of their energy from local, renewable sources (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • incorporating additional energy performance standards into their Local Plan, for new works that require planning permission
    • using Area Action Plans to guide development proposals towards lower carbon emissions or more cycling and walking routes, for example
    • enforcing legislation that requires private rental properties to be of Energy Efficiency Rating E or above (Energy Efficiency Regulations, 2015)
    • funding energy efficiency improvements on existing homes, through initiatives such as Green Homes Grants

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Schools and libraries

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing the carbon footprint of civic buildings through better insulation and renewable energy use
    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
    • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    • encouraging eco-clubs at schools
    • using school land to plant trees and hedgerows, or to grow food

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Housing

    Climate actions might include:

    • setting energy standards above building regulations (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • enabling housing associations to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock through loans
    • where councils operate their own social housing, prioritising energy efficiency – for example, by requiring Passivhaus standard for newly built schemes

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Spending, procuring, and investing

    Climate actions might include:

    • embedding carbon impact assessment as part of the council’s budgeting and financial accountability process
    • utilising Public Works Loan Board loans or the Business Rates Retention Scheme to invest in emissions-reducing capital projects that otherwise wouldn’t get funded
    • specifying low carbon equipment and practices when procuring for relevant services from suppliers
    • prioritising positive environmental impacts during procurement, through the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
    Transport planning

    Climate actions might include:

    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ like walking and cycling by creating or widening footways and cycleways
    • incentivising Electric Vehicle use by assigning street space to EV charging
    • disincentivising the use of fossil fuel cars through congestion charging,low-traffic neighbourhoods, or the reduction of parking space

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Waste collection and disposal

    Climate actions might include:

    • establishing ‘Joint Waste Solutions’ with neighbouring councils, to get more value out of waste, recycling, and street cleaning contracts
    • running marketing campaigns to encourage residential recycling, reuse, and waste minimisation

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Read more about local authority powers across the UK, at The Institute for Government.

    More about this council

    westlothian.gov.uk
    West Lothian Council’s official homepage.
    @LoveWestLothian
    West Lothian Council’s Twitter account.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check West Lothian Council’s ‘carbon budget’ – their share towards meeting the UK’s Paris agreement targets.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: West Lothian Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/west-lothian-council/ [Accessed 2 Apr 2023].

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